On May 16, 1997, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) participated in the televised Presidential apology for the Tuskegee Study.

President Clinton issued a formal Presidential Apology. In his apology he announced an investment to establish what became The National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University.

The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee was a study conducted between 1932 and 1972. The study was supposed to observe the natural history of untreated syphilis.

As part of the study, researchers did not collect informed consent from participants. They also did not offer treatment, even after it was easily available. The study ended in 1972 on the recommendation of an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel.

The National Research Act was signed into law in 1974, creating the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research.